Friday, March 23
Columbia, Mo.
5 PM
University of Missouri
vs
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(#24) Mississippi State
@MizzouTennis Back Home For Alumni Weekend
3/22/2018 5:56:00 PM | Tennis
Tigers welcome Mississippi State on Friday, Ole Miss on Sunday
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mizzou Tennis team (11-8, 0-5 SEC) returns home to the Mizzou Tennis Complex this weekend for a pair of SEC matches as part of its Alumni Weekend. The Tigers welcome No. 24 Mississippi State (12-5, 3-3) on Friday at 5 p.m., then host No. 11 Ole Miss (11-5, 2-4) on Sunday at 1 p.m.
WELCOME HOME
- We're pleased to welcome eight former players back to Columbia this weekend. They'll be recognized on-court between doubles and singles matches on both days, and have several other events scheduled. The eight in attendance this weekend are:
- Ron Cobb, 1968-69 and 1970-71 (military service 1969-70), Journalism 1973
- Shane Jordan, 1992-94, Interdisciplinary Studies 1996
- Kelly Crull, 2002-06, Journalism 2006
- Mallory Weber, 2007-11, Secondary Education 2012
- Kaitlyn Ritchie, 2007-11, Communication/Sociology 2012
- Rachel Stuhlmann. 2010-14, Sport Management 2015
- Kelli Hine Ritchie, 2013-16, Nutritional Sciences 2017
- Bea Machado Santos, 2014-17, Sport Management 2018
LOOKING BACK
- Mizzou hit the road for the first time in six weeks last weekend, and began with a 4-0 loss at No. 42 Texas A&M.
- For the third straight match, the Tigers won the first match of the day. This time, it was the duo of sophomore Mackenzy Middlebrooks (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and freshman Ellie Wright (Gainesville, Fla.), who cruised to a 6-0 win at No. 3 doubles. It's the pair's fourth 6-0 win of the season, with all four coming in dual-match play.
- On Saturday, Mizzou got a pair of singles wins, but No. 43 LSU secured a 4-2 win.
- LSU won the doubles point with a sweep of the first two doubles matches, yet Mizzou twice tied the match up with singles wins.
- Freshman Marta Oliveira (Lisbon, Portugal) earned her second straight win, and first in SEC play, with a convincing 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 6. Moments later, freshman Ellie Wright (Gainesville, Fla.) tied the match at 2-all with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 4.
MACK'S ON FIRE
- Sophomore Mackenzy Middlebrooks (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) is 18-2 in her last 20 singles decisions dating back to the Fall season, and is 12-2 in dual-match play.
- Middlebrooks won 18 straight matches dating back to the ITA Regional Championships in October.
- Her 18 singles wins currently leads the team, as does her 12-2 singles record in dual play.
DOUBLING UP
- Doubles continues to be the strength of the Tigers, as Mizzou has won the doubles point in 13 of 19 matches this season. In all, Mizzou's doubles teams are 46-32 (.590) on the year, and 31-19 (.620) in dual play.
- Middlebrooks and freshman Ellie Wright (Gainesville, Fla.) lead the way with 17 doubles wins each on the season. Fourteen of those have come with each other, including a 13-2 mark in dual play.
- The duo have won nine of their last 10 decisions.
- Sophomore Serena Nash (Bradford, England) is close behind with 15 total doubles wins.
FIVE NEWCOMERS
- Second-year Head Coach Colt Gaston has assembled a mix of veteran talent and young newcomers with this season's roster.
- Four Tigers – Nash, a sophomore transfer from Oklahoma; and freshmen Wright, Marta Oliveira (Lisbon, Portugal) and Ally Noback (Alpharetta, Ga.) – made their team debuts in the fall.
- A fifth – Taylor Gruber (Spicewood, Texas) – signed with Mizzou in November, graduated early from high school and joined the team in January.
- The newcomers have accounted for nearly half (34) of the Tigers' 71 singles wins this season, and have had a hand in 43 of the team's 46 doubles victories.
SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE
- The Bulldogs (12-5, 3-3) are one of the hottest teams in the SEC at the moment, riding a three-match winning streak. Last weekend, they beat then-No. 2 Vanderbilt, 4-3, then swept then-No. 14 Kentucky, 4-0, to move from unranked last week all the way to No. 24 in this week's ITA rankings.
- MSU's results have come without any Bulldog in either the singles or doubles rankings.
- Sara Lizariturry is a perfect 4-0 at No. 5 in SEC singles play for MSU, while Anastasia Rentouli is 4-1 at No. 4. Rentouli is the reigning SEC Player of the Week after clinching each of the Bulldogs' wins during this streak.
SCOUTING OLE MISS
- The No. 11 Rebels (11-5, 2-4) have split their last two weekends of play and are coming off a 4-2 loss at home to then-No. 2 Vanderbilt.
- Ole Miss features three ranked singles players: Arianne Hartono (No. 17), Tea Jandric (No. 82) and Sabina Machalova (90). The Rebels' top doubles team of Hartono and Alexa Bortles are ranked No. 7 in the country – the highest of any duo in the SEC.
- Hartono is 11-2 in duals and 4-2 in SEC play, while Hartono/Bortles are 8-3 and 2-1 in the SEC.
For all the latest on Mizzou Tennis, stay tuned to mutigers.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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